Rovalma: different types of steel

“In the 1970s, the quality of local steel was very poor in Spain and most companies had to import it from all over Europe. At the time, my husband and I started a small business as sales intermediaries, buying and selling steel,” says Magda Angles, co-founder of Rovalma. Forty years later, the company has evolved a lot. “Currently, we produce our own high-performance steels for the manufacture of tools, dies and moulds that enhance the production efficiency of machines that in turn produce components for cars or home appliances amongst many other applications,” says Magda.

The capabilities of the mould steel in terms of mechanical, thermal and surface properties have a great impact on the production efficiency in industrial component manufacture. As Magda explains, “As an example, plastic is injected into a hot steel mould that gives it the desired form. The plastic piece then needs to cool down to solidify, and the properties of the steel used in the mould determine how fast the piece solidifies and what mechanical and surface qualities the component obtains.” This is where Rovalma comes in and can make a difference. “You would assume that steel is just steel, but actually there are different kinds of steel with totally different properties. They have different degrees of conductivity and cool down at different speeds,” she says, “By using the type of steel that works best for your machine, you can secure a clear competitive advantage. At Rovalma, we dedicate a lot of resources to R&D in order to develop vanguard steels that provide a clear competitive advantage. As a result, our clients are able to produce a new unit for example every 10 seconds instead of every 15 or 20, which is much more cost-effective and has a direct positive impact on sales and earnings,” she says.

 “Looking back, it is incredible how much we’ve evolved. From a five-person micro-business of intermediary salespeople to a cutting-edge research and production company with clients across Europe, North America and Asia…” says Magda, whose son now runs the business.  

However, as the company scales up, Rovalma is faced with a growing number of clients, each with its own different needs for their specific machinery. “Our job is to cater for these needs and supply the right kind of steel in customized sizes and surface features.” With an EU-guaranteed loan from Caixabank, backed by the EIF, Rovalma was able to acquire new machinery that helps it meet the requirements of an expanding and more varied demand. “We can now turn more of our R&D department’s ideas into reality, developing products optimized for novel and emerging key enabling technologies,” she says.

Company: Rovalma (Spain)

Type of business: manufacturing

EIF financing: SME Initiative Spain

Financial intermediary: Caixabank

For further information about EIF intermediaries in Spain, please refer to: http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/where/es/index.htm